Application of liquids to materials



Feb. 13, 1940. MELLOR r L 2,189,914

APPLICATION OF LIQUIDS TO MATERIALS Filed Jan. 30, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Feb. 13, 1940. A. MELLOR ET AL APPLICATION OF LIQUIDS TO MATERIALSFil-ed Jan; 30, 1957 2 She'ets Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 13, 1940.

umrso STATES srruoarron or mourns TO MATERIALS Albert Mellor and WilliamPool, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to Celanese Corporation ofAmerica, a corporation of Delaware Application January 30, 1937, SerialNo. 123,102

In Great Britain February 6, 1936 2 Claims.

According to the invention, liquid is applied to a web or sheet ofmaterial by means'of a pad mangle comprising a pair of rollers arrangedside by side so that each depends into atrough for the reception of theliquid to be applied, the roll- 16 ers forming a nip at or only slightlyabove the level of the liquid in the trough. The web or sheet is passedthrough the trough and upwards through the nip, the material beingimpregnated by its passage through the liquid, and the rollers 20expressing surplus liquid from the material without there being anopportunity for the liquid to run in streams over the material. Thematerial leaves the nip with a substantially uniform content of liquid.Further, the rotation of the rollers in the liquid prevents anysubstance dissolved in the liquid from being left by evaporation insolid or concentrated form on the rollers and subsequently printed on tothe impregnated fabric.

One or both rollers may be rubberor fabriccovered to assist in uniformimpregnation of the material. As an alternative, the rollers may serveas a means for supporting endless bands which are carried repeatedlythrough the liquid, and through the nip of the rollers. Such bands may,if desired, be, so mounted as to have the effect of'extending the nipfor some distance upwardly above the rollers so as to maintain the'rialsbeing afterwards subjected to the action of y vapours of an organicsolvent. Thus, the impregnated material 'may be dried in any convenientmanner, means being provided if necessary for recovery of solventexpelled from the material. For this purpose thedrying may beaccomplished with great advantage in the apparatus described in U. S.application S. No. 124,139 filed February 4, I937, corresponding toBritish application No, 3630/36 by means of which solvent removal iseffected by means of superheated vapours of the solvent during part of 5the travel of the material, while during the remainder of its travel thedrying of the material is completed with the aid of a gas, e. g. warmair operating in conjunction with suitable recovery means, e. g. acarbon recovery plant.

With the arrangement described above, impregnation, and if desired,vapour treatment, and drying are carried out rapidly in a continuousmanner.

By way of example a form of apparatus acl6 cording to the invention willnow be described in greater detail withreference to .the accompanyingdiagrammatic drawings, of which Fig. 1 is a part cross-sectional sideelevation of a machine for applying liquid to sheet material;

Fig. 2 is a part cross-sectional front elevation taken on the line 22 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a part cross-sectional elevation of a detail of Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to Fig. l, fabric 4 unwinding from a roll 5 which is rotatablysupported by brackets 6 outstanding from the machine frame 1 (shown indotted line) passes upwardly to and around a roller 8. From the roller 8the fabric passes 80 around guide rollers 9 operating in a trough Illand is directed upwardly from the last of these rollers to the nip of apad mangle comprising a pair of rubber-covered rollers ii. The trough I0is filled with liquid (e. g. a dye liquor) to a 85 level (indicated atl2) slightly below the nip of the mangle rollersv ll.

In its passage round the submerged guide rollers 9, the fabric becomesthoroughly impregnated and remains so up to the point at which expres-40 sion of the liquid by the mangle rollers ll begins with the resultthat there is no opportunity for liquid to run down the fabric instreams. The rotation of the rollers H in the liquid, moreover, keepsthe rollers thoroughly wetted and provides no opportunity for theconcentration on the sur-' faces of the rollers of any substancedissolved in the liquid by evaporation of the liquid.

Thus, the fabric is not subjected to streams of liquid or otherconcentrations of substance dis- 5 solved in the liquid that might tendto produce uneven effects on the fabric, but leaves the nip rollers witha substantially uniform content of liquid. A uniform treatment of thefabric results. For example, if the liquid contains a dis- I solveddyestufi, subsequent drying leaves the fabric substantially uniformlytreated with the dyestuff.

In order to facilitate the starting of the liquidapplying operation andto allow of the fabric 4 being passed over the guide rollers 9 withoutdifficulty the trough II! can be lowered from operative position. Thus,the trough is supported by vertical standards M which are pivotallysupported both from the machine frame by links I5 and from a rotatableshaft l6 by links l1. The links l1, which are fixed to the shaft l6,extend beyond the shaft and form levers, and are provided near theirouter ends with balance weights 3 the moment of which about the shaft I6is suflicient to maintain the trough ID in the raised or operative,position.

A worm wheel 20 is fixed to the shaft l6 and is engaged by a worm (notshown) housed in a casing 2 I, the worm being secured to a shaft 22which is rotatable by a hand-wheel 23. In order to lower the trough IDfrom the operative position (i. e. from the position shown in thedrawings) the hand-wheel 23 is rotated in the appropriate direction, theresulting rotation of the shaft l6 by the worm wheel 20 causing thelinks l5, H to rotate about their pivots to lower the trough. After thefabric 4 has been passed over the guide rollers 9 and it is desired tostart the liquid-applying operation, the hand-wheel 23 is rotated in thereverse direction to raise the trough I0 into opera.- tive position.

The left-hand mangle roller II is supported in movable bearings 25 (oneshown in Fig. 1) which are slidably mounted on blocks 26 formed on themachine frame. Each bearing 25 is urged to the right by a pressure bar21 so as to set up pressure between the two rollers II, the bar itselfbeing pressed by a lever 30 to which the bar is connected by a pivotallymounted threaded block 3|. The lever 30 is urged to rotate clockwiseabout its pivot 32 by a bell-crank lever 33 which is weightedat 34 andconnected to the lever 30 by a link 35. The pressure between the manglerollers H can quickly be released (e. g. when it is desired to pass theleading end of a piece of fabric between the rollers) by a hand lever36, anticlockwise rotation of which brings about similar rotation of thebell-crank lever 33 by means of a lifting cam 31 which is connected tothe handlever and disposed beneath the bell-crank lever. The degree ofpressure between the mangle rollers may be adjusted by suitably varyingthe weights 34. The pressure bars 21 can be rotated within the blocks 3|by means of a hand wheel 40 fixed to each bar.

Liquid is fed to the trough 0 from a closed container 4 I, (see Figs. 2and 3), the container being suspended in inverted position over acovered extension 42 of the trough and provided with a feed-pipe 43. Asthe liquid in the trough is consumed, the fall in its level permits airto pass through an-opening 44 in the cover of the exsion 42. When,however, the liquid in the trough reaches the desired level a floatandneedle device 50 in the extension 42 rises and closes the valve 45. Theclosing of the valve stops the flow of air into the container 4| and theflow of liquid from the container consequently ceases. The action of thefloat and needle device 50 is fully automatic and the device maintains asubstantially constant level of liquid in the trough Ill. The pipe 46 isflexible in order to allow of the lowering and raising of the trough I0(and extension 42) without disturbing the liquid feeding apparatus.

After recharging the container 4| any liquid in the air pipe 41 can bedrained from the pipe by a three-way cock 5| and drain pipe 52 whichconnects the cock with the pipe 43. Thus, to ensure that the pipe 41 isfreed from liquid at the commencement of the liquid-applying operationthe cock 5| is turned to connect the pipe 41 with the drain 52. When thepipe 41 is drained the cock is turned to connect the flexible pipe 46with pipe 41 (as shown in Fig. 3) and a cook 53 in the pipe 43 is openedto allow the feed of liquid to the trough to commence. During therecharging of the container, the cock 5| is turned into the thirdposition to disconnect the pipe 41 from the flexible pipe 46, thuspreventing any liquid which may be poured into the pipe 41 from passingdown the pipe 46.

Having described our invention, what we sire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. Apparatus for applying liquid to a web or sheet of material,comprising a pair of mangle rollers, means for rotatably mounting saidrollers trough, and means controlling the flow of liquid from the supplyto the trough and adapted to maintain a substantially constant level ofliquid in the trough.

2. Apparatus for applying liquid to a web or sheet of material,comprising a pair of rubbercovered mangle rollers, means for rotatablymounting said rollers side-by-side to form a nip, a trough for thereception of the liquid, means for mounting said trough beneath therollers in a position such that the rollers depend into the trough andform the nip close to the level of the liquid in the trough, a guideroller positioned in the trough and adapted to direct the web or sheetof material to the nip of the rollers, a liquid supply, a feed pipeconnecting said supply to said trough, and means controlling the feed ofliquid from the supply to the trough and adapted to maintain asubstantially constant level of liquid in the trough.

ALBERT MELLOR. WILLIAM POOL.

